Don't Mess with Eva Rossi
by ErinM
Summary: Eva Rossi gets what she wants... *post-series


**Title**: Don't Mess with Eva Rossi  
**Author**: Erin (erinm_)  
**Characters, Pairing**: Team NIH (mention of Kate)  
**Rating**: PG  
**Summary**: Eva Rossi gets what she wants...  
**Warning**: post-series *Written for Prompt Challenge 01 at **stephen_natalie** on LiveJourna;. Prompt 02-07: **Stop** CRACK!! o.O For **laeliamouse** and **queenof1000days**, who are far too patient ;)  
**Disclaimer**: The original characters belongs to NBC and their respective actors. _Candyman_ belongs to Christina Aguilera, et. al.

"You are so wrong," Miles informed Eva as he followed her into the library. Eva shook her head and set a stack of folders down on the table and planted her hand on the top folder as she turned to look at Miles with narrowed eyes.

"And I say I'm right," she stated with a shrug and her trademark 'Eva Rossi'-smile.

"No, you're crazy," he pointed to her and stepped back as Natalie pushed between them with her own stack of paperwork. "Even if he could, he still wouldn't."

Natalie raised an eyebrow and threw a quick glance between the two of them. "Who wouldn't do what?" she asked, shifting the stack of folders. Miles raised an eyebrow to Eva and she gave him a dirty look. Crossing her arms, Eva leaned back against the table's edge and nodded toward Stephen's office.

"I say Stephen can dance." Natalie nodded with a 'why did I ask'-smile. "Miles says he can't," Eva added, giving him another glare. Natalie glanced up to Miles and gave him a kind smile.

"I didn't say he _couldn't_ dance," Miles defended, holding up his hands. "I said he wouldn't dance," he told Natalie. Natalie gave him the 'Mom'-look and he huffed.

"I think that, if he had the choice, you're right," she nodded to Miles. "He wouldn't dance." Miles sneered at Eva, who responded by making her own face. "You are also right," she stated, turning to Eva. "He can dance." Eva smiled and shot another dirty look to Miles.

"Who can dance?" the three of them heard and they looked up to see Stephen and Frank moving into the library. Natalie looked back to her stack of folders and pulled out one of the chairs as Eva pushed off the table and moved over to Stephen's side.

"You," she said, matter-of-factly. Stephen smiled and raised an eyebrow before he turned to Eva.

Blinking, he looked back to the bookshelf and mused: "Well, I did ask..."

"Yeah, he's a real twinkle toes," Frank offered with a snort, unable to get the sentence out with a straight face. Which got his a look from Stephen.

"I believe I danced with you at the Christmas party, Miss Rossi," Stephen said with a single nod. Eva nodded and opened her mouth, but Miles got the words out before she did.

"She's not talking about that kind of dancing." Stephen's eyes narrowed and he reared back slightly to look at Eva.

"What kind of dancing are we talking about?" he asked, knowing he'd probably regret asking.

"Swing," Eva replied with a shrug.

"Swing?" Stephen repeated. She nodded and Stephen glanced away for a moment. "Like, Glenn Miller-swing?"

"Yes," Eva nodded again. "A swing club opened a few blocks from my apartment and, I figured... Kate's always getting on us to do some sort of team-building thing, so I thought that... maybe... we could, y'know... check it out."

"Well, that explains it," Frank said to no one in particular. Eva and Miles turned to look at him and Natalie looked up from her paperwork. When Frank realized everyone was looking at him, he gave a look to Eva and explained: "Kim's been on me all week to take her out dancing."

"See, it's fate," Eva said with a shrug, turning back to Stephen.

"No, it means you need to stop calling my wife, Rossi," Frank grumbled, which made Stephen smile.

"Anyway," Eva said loudly, ignoring Frank's comment. "Miles doesn't think you can dance," she directed to Stephen.

"Hey!" Miles protested and shook his head.

Eva raised a finger, but didn't turn to Miles. "A bet was made, McCabe," she snapped.

"All I said was 'I bet he won't go for it'. That's _not_ a bet, Eva." Eva made a face that only Stephen could see and he had to fight a snort.

"So, Stephen," Eva started, crossing her arms. "Can you swing dance?" Stephen just shook his head and stepped around Eva. He pulled out the chair across from Natalie and sat down, holding out a hand for one of the folders in her stack and flipped it open.

Miles gave Eva a look and she glared in Stephen's direction for a moment before storming out of the library and disappearing around the corner. Frank sat down next to Stephen and Miles moved over to the bookshelf.

About a minute later, Eva stormed back in and set a white box down on the table. Stephen leaned back and Natalie pulled her folder closer as Eva tossed the power cord across the table to Frank and nodded to the plug on the wall. Reaching into her pocket, Eva pulled out her iPod and plugged it into the slot on top of the box and stepped back.

Stephen looked from the box to Eva and blinked. "Prove it," she said with a sharp nod. Stephen breathed a laugh and shook his head as he leaned forward and went back to the report. "Most people would consider silence as a sign of defeat," she prodded, causing Stephen to look up and Frank to lean away from the table.

"Eva," he said slowly, setting his pen down on the table. "There is a time and a place for most everything. This," he waved to the box. "-isn't it." He was trying to ignore the grin on Natalie's face, and she was ducking her chin to her chest to try and hide it.

"It's okay, Stephen," she nodded. "You shouldn't be ashamed. Not everyone's a dancer." Miles looked like someone had just barbequed a cat and Frank was trying not to look at Stephen. Natalie was waiting for Stephen to be... well: Stephen; and Eva was still standing there, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

He knew enough to know Eva Rossi would not back down – and she obviously didn't care that they were at work or that, technically, he was her boss – but he also knew that he owed her for many things he wasn't allowed to talk about, just in case it ever got back to Kate.

Eva smiled because she could see that the victory was hers and she stepped back as Stephen held up a finger. "Kate finds out, it's on your head." Eva nodded and Natalie and Miles stared between them in shock. Frank simply stared at the table and nodded.

If Natalie Durant was confused before, she was flabbergasted when Stephen grabbed her wrist and pulled her up from the chair. "Trust me," he said quietly. "It's less painful this way." Much as he didn't want to admit it, it was the truth. The man wasn't stupid, and he knew some of the lengths Eva had gone to to get her way.

And his.

Stephen motioned for Miles to move to the hallway to keep and eye out and nodded to Eva to turn the music on. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner they could get back to work. Frank's hand moved to cover his mouth and he simply shook his head. "What makes you think I can do this?" she asked him quietly, knowing full well she _did_ know how to 'do this'.

Stephen smirked at her as Eva moved over to the iPod and pressed a few buttons. A few seconds later, the sound of horns came from the white box and Stephen nodded to Natalie. She was still looking at him like he'd just had a lobotomy and he completely ignored it.

_Tarzan and Jane were swinging' on a vine // Candyman, Candyman  
Sippin' from a bottle of vodka double wine // Sweet sugar candy man  
I met him out for dinner on a Friday night // He really had me working up an appetite  
He had tattoos up and down his arm // There's nothing more dangerous than a boy with charm_

By this point, Frank was holding his side and actually tearing up, simply because he knew the song and knew that neither of his friends had probably ever heard it before.

_He's a one stop shop, makes the panties drop_

As Stephen pushed her away and pulled her back to him, her head snapped toward the speakers, wondering if she'd heard what she thought she had. Stephen hadn't made any motions of catching it, so she must have just been hearing things.

_He's a sweet-talkin', sugar coated candy man // A sweet-talkin', sugar coated candyman_

As the horns continued, Natalie had to admit that it had been far too long since she'd last danced like this, and she missed it. The whole thing had been a joke, really – a gag gift from some friends down in the NIH's ER – and she had no one to go with her to the free dance lesson.

Luckily for her, Stephen owed her one for being a jerk and taking his anger out on her. He offered to go along so that she wouldn't have to be the odd one out at the lesson and admitted afterward that he had a rather good time. Of course, neither of them ever mentioned it again.

_He took me to the Spider Club at Hollywood and Vine // We drank champagne and we danced all night  
We shook the paparazzi for a big surprise // The gossip tonight will be tomorrow's headline  
He's a one stop shop, make my cherry pop // He's a sweet-talkin', sugar coated candy man_

"I'm sorry, _**WHAT**_?" Stephen asked Eva, stopping dead mid-step and staring at the iPod in shock.


End file.
